Bio-based materials for electronics

01Overview and value chain#

Markers EC: EU WEEE Directive / EU REACH substance registration | OECD: Bio-based materials | Regulator: EPA (USA), REACH (EU)

Bio-based materials for electronics replace petrochemical plastic content in two distinct parts of an electronic device: the printed circuit board (PCB) substrate itself, and the external enclosure or housing. The confirmed producers here split cleanly along this line — Jiva Materials’ Soluboard and RayPCB’s biodegradable PCB target the substrate that carries and connects components, while Intek Plastics’ bioplastic extrusion materials, FKuR’s PLA compound and Teko’s BIODURA-based enclosures target the external housing — two genuinely different engineering problems addressing different points in a device’s bill of materials. A shared commercial driver across every confirmed producer is electronic-waste reduction: Jiva Materials frames Soluboard around end-of-life dissolution rather than incineration or landfill, and every enclosure producer markets against the same conventional ABS or polycarbonate housing that typically survives the device’s disposal unrecycled.

The key directions of bio-based materials for electronics are:

1. Biodegradable PCB substrates: substrate materials engineered to replace conventional fiberglass-epoxy (FR4) PCB laminate with a biodegradable or water-soluble alternative, enabling end-of-life material separation and dissolution rather than shredding mixed e-waste (Jiva Materials’ Soluboard).
2. Bio-based high-performance compounds for electrical/electronic applications: PLA-based compounds specifically engineered for the heat resistance and process-safety requirements of electrical and electronic component manufacturing, distinct from standard-grade PLA used in less demanding applications (FKuR).
3. Bioplastic extrusion materials for lighting and device components: bioplastic composite extrusion materials formulated for LED housings, diffusers, optical lenses and data-center plastic parts, applying bio-based chemistry to a broad range of device-level components beyond the enclosure alone (Intek Plastics).
4. Bio-based external enclosures: finished electronic enclosures manufactured from bioplastic compounds, offering mechanical resistance and thermal stability comparable to conventional plastic enclosures while replacing the external housing material (Teko/OKW Enclosures, RayPCB’s biodegradable PCB casing line).

Sectoral value chain#

[Bio-Based Compound/Substrate Formulation] ──> [Material Manufacturing] ──> [Component Fabrication (PCB/Enclosure)] ──> [Device Assembly]
                                                                                                    │
                                                                                        (Performance & Thermal Testing)
                                                                                                    │
                                                                                                    ▼
                                                                                        [End-of-Life Dissolution/Recycling]

Value chain levels#

Cross-cutting technologies of the sector:

• Substrate versus enclosure as the category’s structural split: every confirmed producer targets one of two distinct components — the PCB substrate itself or the external housing — reflecting genuinely different material engineering requirements (electrical insulation and fabrication compatibility for substrates, versus mechanical and thermal durability for enclosures) rather than a single shared bio-based chemistry.
• End-of-life material separation as the shared sustainability claim: every confirmed producer frames its environmental benefit around easier end-of-life separation or biodegradation rather than a bio-based-content claim about the finished device’s overall carbon footprint, since electronics recycling’s core difficulty is separating mixed material streams (metals, conventional plastics, glass-fiber composites).
• Performance parity as the commercial entry requirement: every confirmed producer explicitly benchmarks its bio-based material against conventional performance requirements — Soluboard is designed for standard PCB fabrication processes, Teko’s Soap 2 Bio claims mechanical resistance and thermal stability comparable to conventional enclosures — since a bio-based material that requires a redesigned manufacturing process faces a much higher adoption barrier than a drop-in substitute.

02US#

The United States hosts one confirmed producer of bioplastic materials spanning device housings and component parts.

Bioplastic extrusion materials for device components#

• Intek Plastics: a Minnesota-based manufacturer producing bioplastic composite extrusion materials for LED housings, diffusers, optical lenses and data-center plastic parts, applying bio-based chemistry across a range of device-level components beyond the enclosure alone.

03CN#

China hosts a confirmed PCB manufacturer offering a biodegradable circuit board as one line within a broader conventional PCB fabrication catalog.

A biodegradable PCB option within a conventional fabrication catalog#

• RayPCB: a Chinese PCB manufacturer offering a Biodegradable PCB product described on its own site as made from bio-based polymers and organic substrates designed to decompose under appropriate conditions, alongside its much larger catalog of conventional FR4 and specialty laminates — a bio-based option within a broad fabrication business rather than a company built specifically around bio-based substrate technology.

04EU#

Europe hosts two confirmed UK producers spanning PCB substrates and enclosures, alongside a German bio-based compound developer.

Biodegradable substrates, high-performance compounds and bio-based enclosures#

• Jiva Materials: a UK company producing Soluboard, described as the world’s first fully recyclable PCB substrate, a biodegradable, halogen-free laminate compatible with standard PCB fabrication processes (etching, electroplating, drilling, routing), developed in partnership with the University of Portsmouth and Innovate UK funding.
• FKuR: a German compounder developing a bio-based, high-performance PLA compound specifically engineered for the heat resistance and process-safety requirements of electrical and electronic applications, distinct from standard-grade PLA.
• Teko (OKW Enclosures): a UK manufacturer (Fareham, England) of Soap 2 Bio, a line of electronic enclosures made from BIODURA bioplastic supplied by SABIOMATERIALS, offering mechanical resistance and thermal stability comparable to conventional plastic enclosures.

05Leading companies and research institutes#

06Tech stack and innovations#

The stack splits structurally between PCB-substrate and enclosure-material approaches, with every confirmed producer benchmarking against conventional-material performance and fabrication compatibility as the entry requirement for adoption.

1. Standard-Fabrication-Compatible Biodegradable Substrate as the Key Adoption Enabler:
   • Jiva Materials’ Soluboard is explicitly designed to work with standard PCB fabrication processes — etching, electroplating, drilling, routing — rather than requiring a manufacturer to adopt a new fabrication line, which is what allows a biodegradable substrate to be evaluated as a drop-in material change rather than a process overhaul.
   • This standard-process-compatibility framing is the central technical claim distinguishing a commercially viable biodegradable substrate from a lab-stage material that performs well in isolation but can’t integrate into existing PCB manufacturing infrastructure.
2. Application-Specific PLA Engineering for Electrical/Electronic Heat Requirements:
   • FKuR’s electronics-targeted PLA compound is engineered specifically for the heat resistance and process-safety demands of electrical and electronic applications, distinct from the standard-grade PLA used in less thermally demanding applications like packaging or consumer goods.
   • This illustrates that “bio-based plastic for electronics” is not a single material specification — the electrical/electronic-grade formulation requires application-specific engineering beyond what a general-purpose bioplastic compound provides.
3. A Biodegradable Option Embedded Within a Conventional Manufacturing Catalog:
   • RayPCB offers its biodegradable PCB as one line item within a much larger catalog of conventional FR4 and specialty laminates, a different commercial positioning from Jiva Materials, whose entire business is built around the biodegradable substrate technology.
   • This distinction matters for buyers: a company like RayPCB can supply a bio-based option at existing fabrication scale and lead times, while a specialist like Jiva Materials is likely to offer deeper technical support for the material itself but potentially less manufacturing scale.

07Value chains and production pipelines#

Industrial pipeline of a bio-materials-electronics product line#

┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Bio-Based Compound/     │ ───> │ 2. Material Manufacturing   │
│    Substrate Formulation    │      │                              │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
                                                 │
                                                 ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 4. Device Assembly         │ <─── │ 3. Component Fabrication    │
│                              │      │    (PCB/Enclosure)           │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
              │
              ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 5. Performance & Thermal   │ ───> │ 6. End-of-Life               │
│    Testing                   │      │    Dissolution/Recycling     │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘

Stage 1: Bio-based compound/substrate formulation

The producer formulates the bioplastic compound or biodegradable substrate material for its target application, PCB or enclosure, the stage where the substrate-versus-enclosure structural split originates.

Stage 2: Material manufacturing

The finished material — sheet substrate, compound pellets or pre-formed enclosure stock — is manufactured at commercial scale, ready for distribution to PCB fabricators or device manufacturers.

Stage 3: Component fabrication (PCB/enclosure)

The PCB is fabricated (etched, electroplated, drilled, routed) or the enclosure is molded from the bio-based material, using processes designed to be compatible with existing fabrication or molding infrastructure.

Stage 4: Device assembly

The fabricated bio-based component is assembled into the finished electronic device alongside conventional components, the stage where the bio-based material becomes part of a commercial product.

Stage 5: Performance and thermal testing

The material and finished component are tested against standard electrical, mechanical and thermal-stability benchmarks, generating the performance-parity data that substantiates the material’s commercial viability as a drop-in substitute.

Stage 6: End-of-life dissolution/recycling

At end of device life, the bio-based substrate or enclosure is separated, dissolved or biodegraded rather than shredded as mixed e-waste — the stage where the category’s core environmental value proposition, easier end-of-life material recovery, is ultimately realized.